Ruth's Chris Steak House — Restaurant in Sarasota

This is more comparable review from when we dined at Ruth’s Chris in Sarasota before Darden took over the company and afterwards. Full disclosure to people going, they do not provide military discount and they also do not take the Ruth’s Chris rewards app either. (Not calculated in my review, more just so others are aware)

The difference is staggering with how Ruth’s Chris Steak House used to be prior to Darden Corporations taking over it. Previously you were created warmly by everyone, your photo was taken, you felt like a king or queen when you dined with them. The restaurant was well taken care of; it felt ritzy, and worth the money you’re spending there, because it’s a lot of money.

Now, I feel like I’m walking into a LongHorn Steakhouse restaurant with Halls Chophouse prices! The nice, fancy restaurant side of it is hidden in the back where you don’t even notice it, and if you don’t have a reservation, which we didn’t realize we needed on a Thursday evening at 6pm, you don’t get to sit back there, you’re ushered to the bar top area where there is no pizazz or nice decor. Yet you’re still expected to pay the same prices!

They weren’t busy, so why not put people back there at the nicer tables so they can enjoy it regardless of reservation??

Second thing, the wait staff seem like they’re very disinterested in wanting to help or answer questions. The floor manager at the front was helpful but I saw many people just standing around the bar, talking, they didn’t bother to get to know us at all. I wonder if it’s the same treatment in the nicer room in the back??

The food, not worth the price. It’s good, don’t get me wrong, but the plating is all jacked up, no space to actually cut my steak or eat the lobster, such a small plate makes me think it’s not worth the price. Where’s the bigger plate?? The cook on the steaks were all the same (I had ordered mid rare, another mid and the other mid well) they all came out mid rare but we didn’t want to wait another 20-30 minutes for another plate so we just cooked our own food on our 500 DEGREE PLATE, it’s literally that hot so it’s almost impossible to move the plate once the server sets it down.

The sides, potatoes and creamed spinach needed more salt or garlic. We ended up mixing the leftover garlic sauce for the bread (pictured) and put that in the creamed spinach, what a game changer! It was delicious with that!

Blue cheese for the salad was homemade but needs more creaminess, it was very hard to mix into the salad and just clumped everywhere.

French onion soup was very tasty, nice amount of cheese and great flavor.

I had the tequila sunrise (pictured) it was good, I watched them make it, the fruit was fresh and flavor was nice, not sure if worth 15 dollars but still, very good.

They did make it up to us by giving us a free dessert (didn’t ask for it, it was unprompted, they asked if we were there for a special occasion), my mother had just had total knee replacement a week prior and we wanted to celebrate her recovery. They brought out a bread pudding (which was INCREDIBLE, that was truly the best thing there). It was pretty funny because they put Happy Birthday (we weren’t celebrating a birthday) and get well soon on the plate.

All in all, it was…mid. Not what I was expecting from the last time I had gone to Ruth’s Chris. I was hoping for that same level of enthusiasm and wow factor for spending over $250.00, but all I got was an experience I could find at Long Horn for a quarter...

We knew we’d be celebrating on the weekend but decided on an Impromptu visit on a Monday night given it was our 24th anniversary and we had not been to this location before. We were greeted by a delightful young lady & decided a booth in bar area was sufficient for a light meal and cocktails. Unfortunately the booth we got was adjacent the workstation/entrance of the bar which was a noisy gathering spot of staff and more worthy of a sports bar than a place to enjoy $$$ cocktails and food. I returned to hostess to ask for a quick relocation so we could settle in for our dinner. This was the turning point, the delightful young lady was gone and in her place was a dismissive mid ranked manger/supervisor. I was told she would handle our move as soon as she could have someone attend to it. We sat idle for 10 mins while she continued gazing on the paper in front of her. By now we met our delightful server Dominique. I explained we were waiting to move but nothing had been done yet. I returned to the host station to ask again if we could be moved and was abruptly reminded we were waiting for someone to attend to it. Ironically she never engaged anyone to attend to this and was now engaged in conversation with a sports coated gent whose was carrying what appeared to be an employee schedule or dining room schematic (management I guess). He had no awareness to my presence, ignoring me completely, but when they finished their discussion my second visit at least seemed to ignite her interest and she begrudgingly took care of the table move. I explained to Dominique it was our anniversary and the reason we asked to move so as to not offend. Our disgruntled mover obviously overheard and within seconds placed an anniversary card on the table, yet walked away without offering any sentiment. I found this hollow attempt at hospitality more distasteful, albeit amusing, than offering nothing at all. An obvious check the box moment. Meal was great, Dominique continued to delight and overall we had a nice time but it fell short of expectations. Hospitality is always a choice and as Sarasota continues to grow many options exist. I have enjoyed dining at Flemings for 20 years with a remarkable consistency of service and food quality. We were excited that finally we had a choice closer to home. Value for money, should include being able to relax and not feel like you need to work hard to create an atmosphere of enjoyment on behalf of an employees shortfall. It’s a shame that the indifference of one employee can directly impact so many others working hard to fulfil their obligations of service. Employees need to hold each other accountable and remember one person’s cavalier attitude can directly impact their livelihood. I can’t say this experience was enough to entice me to return, especially when celebrating important occasions, but maybe we will stop by again...

First off, Randall was very kind and without his care and attentiveness, we would have given all 1 star. Randall gets 5 stars but Ken whom we called over as soon as we discovered our medium burgers were burnt did not even apologize. No pink in the middle at all at a steak restaurant. ??? Randall had asked us how the burgers were and did his job but Paul had not bit into his at that time. This review is to hopefully remind support managers should support their team and be the recovery rep to make good when hiccups happen. We have patience and grace but the management team needs to work on some areas.

Ken as the mgr should have not only put a priority rush, he should have told Randall. My wife was done eating and sat a long time watching me eat and then sadly, the 2nd burger never came out until 20 mins later. First burger was so long, we were at RC’s 1.75 hours for just a quick happy hour burger. Ken should have come back and asked how the 2nd burger was? Walked past us several times and never asked. We blame Ken since he never told Randall. Randall thought we were done and asked if we wanted the bill to find out Paul never ate his burger. Randall raced back and in our honest opinion was never rush ordered by Ken and we waited WAYYYY TOO LONG! Another helpful observation is Ken and another “ mgr”were talking in the opening of the bar. A bar tender literally had to hold up 4 bottles of wine to get past them. Management is to assist their team not be in their way. Sorry to give this feedback but if you care, it should be taken seriously because management can make or break a good name. We have been to Ruth Chris's all over the nation. Our company in past would rent out 1/2 the restaurant for presentations. We will give RC’s at LWR another shot but with all the restaurants in town, we expect RC’s to be a notch above Ford’s. We have had amazing experiences at RC’s in Orlando and many...